Cheap Car Service: How to Save Real Money

Cheap car service can help prevent a much bigger bill down the track

Cheap car service lays down the same foundations for reliability as reasonable diet and exercise does for you. Unfortunately, cheap car service is also seen by car owners as something of a ‘grudge’ purchase – you pay for car service (even cheap car service) only because if you don’t, your car will let you down. Cheap car service is also one of the first things people scrimp on when times are tight – an example of profoundly false economy when something preventable goes wrong, leaving in its wake a repair bill you can’t jump over.

Here's how to buy into cheap car service cost-effectively

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serviceJohn CadoganACCC, car service, car warranty, dealership, mechanic, new car, parts and service, used car Comments
New-car Warranties: Demystifying Statutory, Expressed & Extended Warranties

Car warranties can be confusing

Statutory Warranties

New cars all come with a statutory warranty - the average in Australia is three years and 100,000km, although some manufacturers offer a greater warranty (Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi offer five years, and Lexus offers four). These are a very good deal, but the car industry tries very hard to leverage the statutory warranty into the consumer perception that you need to get the car serviced at a 'factory authorised dealer' (ie franchised new car dealership) if the warranty is to be preserved. Many consumers understandably form the view that 'authorised dealer' service is a condition of the statutory warranty. This is absolutely not true, but the belief that it is true costs many people thousands of dollars over the term of their warranty - because 'authorised dealer' service is unquestionably the most expensive way to go.

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warrantyJohn Cadoganexpressed warranty, extended warranty, new car, new car dealer, servicing, statutory warranty, warrantiy Comments
Car Service & Your Warranty

Cheap car service doesn't necessarily void your warranty. You don't need to get your car serviced at the 'factory approved' dealership to preserve its warrant

THis post is about how cheap car servicing affects your warranty. Cheap car servicing - from a competent mechanic - can save you hundreds, compared with getting your car serviced at a factory dealership. And it need not void your new-car warranty. New cars in Australia typically come with a three- to five-year warranty. As a new car buyer, it's easy to believe that getting the car serviced at the dealership is the only option. Nothing could be further from the truth

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service, warrantyJohn CadoganACCC, mechanic, new car warranty, servicing, warranty Comment
Sydney Radio 2UE Toll Road Challenge

The epic failure of Sydney’s toll roads continues

POTENTIAL SAVING: $2232 annually, and 90 hours a week - one way

At 7.30am on Wednesday 9 November 2011, Radio 2UE broadcaster Paul Murray and I left Bankstown railway station in two separate cars, headed for The Rocks in Sydney. This seemingly inauspicious event was broadcast right across Sydney on 2UE.

Jason Morrison, 2UE’s breakfast host, covered our progress (if that’s the right word) regularly over the next 90 minutes or so, to answer the question: Are toll roads a fraud? In this case, the answer came back an unequivocal

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drivingJohn Cadogan2ue, Cars, cost of toll roads, driving, sydney, toll roads Comment